Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell talks no-huddle offense

RENTON — Several expert witnesses have been called upon to offer testimony as to why the Seahawks offense is so much better when they work at a no-huddle, up-tempo pace.

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell took his turn on the stand Wednesday.

“There’s a number of reasons why you think (the no huddle is better),” Bevell said. “Can you really put a finger on exactly which one? Probably not.”

He tried anyway.

“I do know it gives us rhythm,” Bevell said. “I do know our guys play fast. I do know that our guys have less to think about. It’s moving so fast so their focus is really dialed in, then they’re runnig those specific plays quickly, they don’t have a lot of time to think and all that. They’re younger guys so some of that is simplified a little bit. There’s a bunch of reasons, but probably a little bit of all those.”

Is it better suited to the skills of quarterback Tarvaris Jackson?

“One of his strengths is that he knows this offense. That part of it he knows really well,” Bevell said. “He probably knows it better than most of the guys, so he functioned really well in it. I thought he handled it outstanding. We’ve added some stuff. We put more runs in it than we have in the past, and he just did a great job of managing it.”

Bevell also talked about the limitations of playing faster from a substitution perspective. If the offense changes personnel, the defense must be allowed to do the same before the next play can begin. But the Seahawks don’t always sub out between plays during the no-huddle, and Bevell said defenses can wear down when that happens — if the Seahawks are moving the chains, that is.

Another issue is fake injuries, something that appeared to happen a couple times on the Falcons side. Of course, there’s no telling for sure.

“It was hurting them,” Bevell said of Atlanta’s defense on Sunday. “There was guys that were down that hopped back up and ran back over on the defensive side. So you could see that it hurt them a little bit just because the tempo was picked up, but we’re playing at the same tempo so our guys have to be in great shape to be able to handle it.”

Here’s Wednesday’s injury report for the Seahawks and New York Giants: